Musical Interlude

"A Way of Life" is the opening track for the original motion picture score for The Last Samurai by Hans Zimmer. It is, in my humble opinion, one of Zimmer's best soundtracks ever.

But other than just being a terrific and moody piece, "A Way of Life" means more to me. When the movie was released, I was starting to plan a backpacking adventure that would take me through 14 countries across Europe in the summer of 2004. If I'm not mistaken, the film came out just before the Holidays of 2003, and I spent the following months planning my trip to the amazing sound of this CD.

Though the entire soundtrack of awesome, for some reason as soon as the first few notes are hit and "A Way of Life" begins, I'm immediately taken back in time, and I can still picture myself sitting there, surrounded by Lonely Planet guidebooks, pencil in hand, trying to come up with the best possible itinerary. Only that track does that to me.

And now that I'm planning my next adventure, this time in Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia, guess what CD is playing in the background!?!